Exxon: We're responsible for spill

Sitting in the hot seat on Capitol Hill for the first time since its Yellowstone River spill, ExxonMobil pledged Thursday to pay all “legitimate claims” and take full responsibility for the cleanup.

While noting that the company’s Silvertip pipeline met federal regulatory requirements before it spilled an estimated 1,000 barrels in Montana on July 1, ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. President Gary Pruessing apologized to the House Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee.

Story Continued Below

“We deeply regret this incident occurred and are steadfastly committed to not only complete the cleanup, but also to build the learnings from this incident into our future operations,” Pruessing said. “To repeat, ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. takes full responsibility for the incident and the cleanup, and we pledge to satisfy all legitimate claims.”

But he said the company still does not know the exact cause of the pipeline breach that caused the spill.

“That is troubling to all of us,” he said, adding that the company did “very good engineering analysis” before the incident. “We had nothing that would indicate the line was not safe."

Cynthia Quarterman, administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said the agency is “vigorously investigating this incident,” while it “will take several months, probably” for a replacement pipeline to be put into place.

The floodwaters are still too high to review the pipeline break, she said. PHMSA has asked Exxon to provide a sonar image of the pipeline at the bottom of the river.

PHMSA issued a corrective action order to Exxon on July 5 that requires the company to directionally drill and assess the risk of other crossings over the river.

Before the spill, PHMSA twice asked Exxon to confirm that there was sufficient cover over the pipeline for the riverbed — including just a month before the spill. Exxon confirmed at the time that the cover for the pipeline met federal regulations of at least 4 feet, including reporting there was 12 feet of cover in June.

Pruessing said a new pipe would be roughly 30 feet below the riverbed, as per PHMSA’s direction.

The hearing may prove helpful in crafting new pipeline safety legislation.

Mentioning hearings she held as chair of the subcommittee last Congress, subcommittee ranking member Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) said there are “significant problems with reporting and inspections, as well as an unhealthy relationship between the pipeline industry and the agencies regulating them.”

Much of the pipeline infrastructure, as well, “is reaching the end of its useful life, and we are going to need to make significant investments in improving these assets,” she added. This includes new strategies for heavily populated areas and those located above aging pipelines, she said.

Subcommittee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) made similar comments to POLITICO on Wednesday. He noted the need for a “risk-based” strategy, in lieu of arbitrarily replacing pipelines after a certain number of years. He also reiterated at the hearing that while there is “room for improvement,” pipelines overall are safe.

“We must ensure that we proceed in a thoughtful, balanced way,” he said, regarding legislation.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:48 p.m. on July 14, 2011.